{"nrhp_refnum":"79003091","name":"Snow Hill","other_names":["Booth House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"VA 40","address_restricted":false,"city":"Gwaltney Corner","county":"Surry County","state":"VA","lat":37.08885788400008,"lon":-77.04924024959556,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-12-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Snow Hill is a 2½-story, single-pile frame house built in 1836 by Samuel Booth in a rural setting on State Route 40 near Gwaltney Corner, Surry County, Virginia.","why_significant":"The house retains well-preserved original painted and grained interior woodwork imitating fine woods and marbles, a craft once common in antebellum Virginia but now rarely intact. It is also a good example of the \"I\" house type, with a single-pile, center-passage plan, and has fine detailing in its exterior end chimneys and trim.","narrative":"Snow Hill is a 2½-story frame farmhouse in rural Surry County, Virginia, built in 1836 by Samuel Booth, a militia officer, on land he bought in 1817. It follows the \"I\" house pattern, with two main stories, a single room depth and a central passage, a form that was the most popular for Virginia farmhouses from the late 18th to the late 19th centuries. Tall brick end chimneys with tiled haunches, a modillion cornice and original beaded weatherboarding give the exterior its refinement. Inside, the house is valued for its surviving painted and grained woodwork, where wainscoting, doors and stair parts imitate maple, tiger maple, bird's-eye maple, mahogany and marble. Few examples of this antebellum decoration remain well preserved, and Snow Hill is described as typical of the restrained style found in moderate-size plantation houses south of the James River. The property stayed in the Booth family for most of its history. A 1916 kitchen wing was removed during a 1970s restoration.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899 (specific date 1836)","architect_builder":"Unknown (built by Samuel Booth in 1836)","architectural_style":"\"I\" house, a blend of vernacular and Georgian forms, with Federal-style mantels","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as unoccupied, in good condition and largely unaltered; a restoration was under way in the 1970s, with further restoration planned. Outbuildings no longer survive.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.257039-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/6/6839/41683906/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/79003091.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003091/e5c5eb8783-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003091/e5c5eb8783-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Sumpter T. Priddy III, HABS delineator","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Snow_Hill_dwg_HABS_VA1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Sumpter T. Priddy III, HABS delineator</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Snow_Hill_dwg_HABS_VA1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683906","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Hill_(Gwaltney_Corner,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15278306"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/surry-county/snow-hill-79003091/"}